282 Mr. Waterhouse on a new genus of Carabideous Insects. 



win in the Falkland Islands. Some of the specimens were found 

 in the month of March under a dead bird on the sea-coast in 

 E. Falkland Island. Both by myself and Mr. Darwin this 

 insect was upon a cursory inspection supposed to be a species 

 of Sphodrus, but upon examination it was found to exhibit 

 characters which separate it from that and other published 

 genera. The more conspicuous are, the swollen anterior tibiae 

 of the male ; the femora are also stouter in this sex, and the 

 four basal joints of the anterior tarsi are dilated, and (with the 

 exception of the basal joint, which is triangular,) they are 

 broader than long. The antennae do not exhibit the short 

 second and long third joint as in Sphodrus, but have the joints 

 all nearly equal in length, the second joint being scarcely 

 shorter than the third, which is not longer than the following 

 joints. In size the present insect is about equal to the Oma- 

 seus melanurus, and an idea of its proportions may perhaps 

 be best conveyed by comparing the two : the body is more 

 depressed than in O. melanurus, the head is a trifle broader, 

 and the antennae are more slender ; the thorax presents nearly 

 the same outline, but the sides are not rounded quite to the 

 base as in that insect. The elytra also present nearly the 

 some outline, but besides being less convex, they have the re- 

 flected margin much broader and more distinct ; the legs are 

 nearly of the same proportions ; the dilated tarsi of the male 

 are broader, the tibiae stouter, and the internal emargination 

 much less distinct, and situated nearer to the apex of the tibiae. 

 The principal specific characters may be thus expressed :— 



Lissopterus quadrinotatus . Liss. niger subnitidus ; antennis pedi- 

 busque piceis, vel rufo-piceis ; thorace supra paulo convexo, sub- 

 quadrato postice angustiore, lateribus indistincte rotundatis, foveis 

 duabus oblongis impresso, medio canaliculate* ; elytris elongato- 

 ovatis, lateribus subparallelis postice rotundatis, supra subde- 

 pressis, lsevibus, indistinctissime striatis, notis quatuor rufis ornatis. 

 Long. corp. 6| — 8 lin. ; lat. 2f — 3 lin. 



Var. |3. Elytris immaculatis, pedibus nigris. 



Colour black ; head and thorax glossy, elytra dull ; head 

 rather broad and subdepressed, with a slight transverse groove 

 in front marking the posterior boundary of the clypeus, which 

 is transverse and slightly emarginated in front, where it is of 

 a pitchy hue ; two shallow foveae situated partly on the cly- 

 peus and partly on the head j eyes rather small, rounded and 

 convex ; labrum and mandibles pitchy ; antennae and palpi 

 pitchy-red. Thorax about one-fourth broader than long ; in 

 front but little narrower than the elytra, and behind about 

 one-fifth narrower than in front ; the sides slightly rounded, 

 but becoming nearly straight and parallel towards the posterior 



